Book 6: Raquel Vs. Steve

Written by: Cari & Al

Finished: September 2007

Summary: Raquel visits the gun store, Joyce finds romance and Shane gets a wish granted.

Copyright: We wrote it, don’t steal it.

 

*           *           *

 

“What’s up?” Steve came in for his shift ten minutes early and greeted Amber at the register.

 

“Nothing much. Just another slow Wednesday afternoon,” Amber answered.

 

“Hmm…Who am I closing with?”

 

“Raquel. She’s running late again.”

 

“She needs to learn to show up on time.” Steve spotted Joyce talking with Francis, a regular that sat at a table in the back and talked to himself in the writing section, as he walked to the back room.

 

“Many writers like to have the story completely outlined and researched before they start,” Francis explained. “I’m not like that. I like to start and let the characters take on a life of their own. They’re personalities and decisions surprise me, and they create the ending to the story.”

 

“Oh. How many books have you finished?” Joyce asked.

 

“None yet. But I will.”

Steve clocked in and took a deep breath. He stretched his arms and cracked his neck ready for action. Nate had given him his performance review yesterday, and Nate was talking about promotions and making Steve more of a leader in the store. He would start with reminding Raquel about starting her shifts on time. He pulled a small moleskin journalist pad out of his cargo pants pocket dated the first sheet and wrote down that Raquel was late. When she came in, he’d document how late.

 

Satisfied, Steve stuffed the pen and pad back into his pocket and went back on the sales floor.

 

“Thanks for telling me about your work, but my break’s over and I have to get back to work.” Joyce said good-bye to Francis and walked right into Steve.

“Oops, sorry.”

 

“How long were you talking to him?” Steve asked.

 

Joyce shrugged. “I don’t know.” Joyce sighed and hummed her way to the back room.

 

Steve turned to Francis, who was still smiling as he picked the book Story off the shelf. “Uh…Francis…”

 

He didn’t hear him.

 

“Francis?”

 

“She brushed against me,” Francis mumbled to himself. “’I’ll order in anything you want’ she said. Aw…”

 

Steve danced back and forth from foot to foot wondering what to do. He couldn’t have Francis in here distracting the employees, but he couldn’t get his voice above a squeak.

 

“Hey, Steve, can you come watch register a moment?” Amber called.

 

“Coming!” Steve scurried up the front.

 

“This lady wants a couple of sci-fi suggestions. I’ve got a couple of things in mind for her if you’ll stay here.”

 

Steve saw the customer Amber was helping. She was slightly over average height, long blonde wavey hair, no makeup, and wore jeans and a camouflage T-shirt that said “You can’t see me” on it.

 

“Everything is alrighty. I can handle it up here.”

 

“Good.” Amber’s height dropped four inches as she stepped off the phonebook and around the counter. Steve followed her with his sight until she went around the bookcases and disappeared, but he could see the customer trailing her. “Weird little fellow, isn’t he?” the customer said.

 

Steve glanced at his watch. Where was Raquel? It was then he saw her out the front windows walk out of the gun shop with a big goofy smile on her face.  He watched, perplexed, as she made her way across the parking lot and finally into the store.  He glanced at the clock on the computer-7 minutes late.  He made a mental note to jot it down on his notebook.

 

Raquel entered the store and came to a dead stop when she saw Steve standing behind the front desk, her grin fading to annoyance.  She glanced around the store and frowned. “Where’s Tracy?  I thought I was closing with her today.”

 

“She called out sick-Nate called me into fill her position.” He puffed himself up with a smile. “Shane’s coming back in when we close to walk me through the closing registers procedure, but until then, I’m in charge.”

 

“God in heaven help us.” Raquel muttered, glancing over her shoulder towards the front doors.  She considered making a run for it…on the other hand, the possibility of Steve screwing up and her missing it was too great for her to bear.  The corn dog incident was still fresh in her mind.

 

Another thought hit her. “By the way, how was jail?”

 

Steve paled. “I-it-You were late!”

 

Raquel arched her eyebrows. “Great comeback.  Did you sprain your brain coming up with that one?”

 

“Were you at the 2^nd Amendment Gun Store?”  There, that was the comeback he wanted to say.  It didn’t get the desired effect.

 

“Scared I was going to get a gun and come in here firing?  Trust me, when that happens, you won’t feel a thing.”  With that, she retreated the back room, where she found Joyce sitting in Nate’s chair, staring the ceiling with a smile on her face. “Uh oh.  What’d I miss?”

 

Joyce blinked. “What?  Oh, nothing.” And her smile got bigger.

 

Raquel eyed her for a minute. “I know what’s going on.”

 

“No you don’t.” Joyce countered.

 

“Sure I do.  I’ve been noticing it for the past few weeks now.  The giggles, the grinning….” Joyce grew red, the smile fading from her face. “You got a new job.”

 

“What!?  No!”

 

Raquel made a face. “Really?  That’s the only reason why I could think of to have anyone smiling in this black hole.”

 

“Well…actually, there is something…”

 

“Oh God, you’re not in love with Steve, are you?”

 

Joyce covered her mouth and swallowed. “I think I just about threw up.” She muttered, lowering her hand. “Defiantly not.”

 

“Yeah, I didn’t think girls were his type.” She sighed and leaned against a shelf. “So, who is he?”

 

Joyce was red again. “Well…you kind of know him…”

 

“Well, I know that Nate is married, and David is with Tracy-“

 

“Is he really?  You got a confession out of one of them?”

 

“No, but I can dream.  And I know that you’re not deranged enough to go after Shane…”

 

“Why do you assume that the only people I know work here?”

 

“Well, you can’t date family-it’s kinda frowned upon.”

 

“Raquel…”

 

“It’s Frances, isn’t it?”

 

Joyce’s face went crimson.  “How…how did you know?”

 

Amber chose that moment to enter the back room. “Hey Joyce.  Raquel.  We having a meeting?”

 

“Joyce likes Frances.”

 

Amber arched her eyebrows. “Isn’t he an out of work writer?  Whose never actually finished a book?”

 

“He’s really sweet!” Joyce defended. “And he’s funny, charming, smart-“

 

“Are we describing a real guy?” Raquel interrupted.

 

“Oh come on, Raquel.  There are guys out there who are almost perfect.”

 

“Yeah, right.”

 

“Are you trying to tell me that you’ve never met a guy that you fell for despite a few small things?” Amber insisted, and got a reaction she didn’t expect.

 

Instead of the quick comeback she expected, Raquel fell oddly silent, and was suddenly very interested in her boots.

 

Joyce and Amber exchanged a glance, and Joyce began to smile. “Does Raquel have someone she’s interested in?”

 

“No!” Raquel said quickly, eyes flashing up to glare at her co-worker.

 

Joyce grinned, looking at Amber. “Isn’t it amazing how one denial can answer a whole lot of questions?”

 

The door peeked open and Steve poked his head in. “What are you guys doing in here!?  You need to be out on the floor!  Now!”

 

No one moved.

 

“Please?”

 

Blank stares.

 

“Oh, alright.” Steve backed out.

 

“I think he gets his management lessons from the pointy-haired boss in Dilbert,” Raquel said.

 

“Or the same school of idiots that Shane graduated from,” Amber said.

 

“Hey guys, be nice. He’s trying. He’ll get it one day.” Joyce spun around and got up from Nate’s chair. “I guess I’ll go shelve kids.”

 

“I have to go back to registers,” Amber said.

 

“I’m going to lunch,” Raquel said.

 

“You can’t go to lunch. You just got here.”

 

“Watch me.”

 

The two followed Raquel out of the back room. Steve was at the register, stomping and muttering to himself.

 

“I’m going to lunch. Be back later,” Raquel announced.

 

Steve stopped cold. “What?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

“You just got here.”

 

“I can take lunch whenever I want.”

 

“Stop!”

 

Raquel stopped in front of the door and waved. “Bye.” She crossed the parking lot to get to the gun shop.

 

“No! Come back!” But the glass door might as well have been a brick wall. Steve stopped at it and banged, but Raquel either didn’t hear or didn’t care.

 

“Are you going to chase her?” Amber asked.

 

Steve didn’t know which answer would best show off his leadership and decision making abilities. His mouth gaped open like a fish, “Sh-should I?”

 

“You’re the boss.” Amber shrugged and took her position on the phonebook behind the registers.

 

Joyce looked at him, shrugged, and headed back to the kids section.

 

“You guys…” Steve whined. Raquel leaned over the gun counter and was talking to some guy. She didn’t once look back at the store. Steve stomped his foot on the ground. “Darn it! Darn it! Gosh, darn it! Gosh!”

 

Behind the cash wrap, Amber snickered.

 

Now Steve was at a total loss of what to do.  If he left the store, he’d be leaving the store without a manager…but what would happen if he let Raquel get away with taking her lunch?  He would never be taken seriously!

 

Maybe…maybe if he called Betty…or Shane…one of them would tell him what to do!

 

On the other hand, then they would think he was incapable of running the store without them…

 

Gathering up his meager courage, he turned to Amber. “I’m going to get Raquel.” He affirmed, wishing his voice wouldn’t come out so…squeaky.  She arched her eyebrows, so he rushed on. “I’m leaving-uh-Joyce in charge until I get back…” He glanced back to where Joyce was sorting through the children’s books. “I shouldn’t be gone long.”

 

Squaring his shoulders, he turned towards the door and started through them.  Amber quickly left her spot, calling to Joyce to join her.  This was too good to pass up.

 

The two hurried to the front windows and settled in to watch the show.

 

Steve started across the parking lot with determination.  Half-way across, he saw the gun guy turn and take a rather large, black, scary gun off the wall and hand it to Raquel.  Steve froze, suddenly not able to feel his legs.  He eyed the gun, saw the smile on Raquel’s face, and the determination turned to fear.  Maybe she had gone off the deep end!  Maybe she was going to come in and start killing them all!

 

“Steve?  You OK?”

 

He blinked, and found himself looking up to Amber, which was sort of weird since Amber was so short. “Wha-huh?” That’s when he realized he was lying on his back in the middle of the parking lot.

 

“I think you fainted.” Amber said with a small smile.

 

“Big…gun…” Steve stuttered.

 

“An AR15,” Joyce said.

 

“How do you know that?” Amber asked.

 

“Just do. You grab his feet, I’ll grab his arms, and we’ll carry him back to the store.”

 

“But…Raquel…”

 

“We’ll take care of it,” Joyce assured.

 

Steve turned his head and saw Raquel watching him through the storefront windows. Behind her was an average height guy with dark shaggy hair, piercings, khaki pants, and a button up collared shirt. He looked worried, she was smiling.

 

“Darn you!”

 

“Steve, calm down,” Amber said. “We can’t carry you when you’re moving around like that.”

 

They took Steve to the back room and sat him down in Nate’s chair. By then there was a line at the register and Amber left to go ring people up. Joyce got Steve a glass of water from the water cooler.

 

“I’m a failure,” Steve sniffed.

 

The phone rang. Steve reached across the desk and picked up the receiver. “Hello? I mean—­­Nate’s Books. This is, oh, what the heck? What can I help you with?”

 

“Steve, this is Nate. I’m calling to check in. How are you doing? I’m sure you’ve got everything under control.”

 

“Uh, yeah…” Steve reached into his pocket his notepad, but it tumbled out of his fingers, and the pen rolled under the desk. “Everything is great!”

 

“Terrific. Listen, I need to talk to Raquel. Is she available?”

 

“Raquel…Raquel is at lunch.”

 

Joyce cocked her head.

 

“Isn’t she closing? What time is it?”

 

Steve scrambled for an excuse. “She, uh, had a gun emergency--I mean Denae and Collin were scaring people and I sent her over there to calm them down.”

 

“Same thing,” Joyce breathed.

 

“You sent Raquel to calm them down?”

 

“She—uh---volunteered.”

 

“Good for her! She’s showing some real potential. She might be keyholder material someday. I know you’ll do a good job with her development.”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“I’ll call back in a little while if I don’t hear from her first. Good job, Steve-o.” Nate hung up.

 

“Crud!” Steve cussed. “What am I going to do? Nate wants to talk to Raquel.”

 

“I’ll go get her.”

 

“No! I need to do this. I can’t let Nate down.”

 

Amber poked her head in the back room. “Hey, Joyce, Francis wants to ask you something.”

 

Joyce’s face turned red, then she smiled and just about skipped out of the backroom.

 

Steve scowled. “At least someone’s happy today.”

 

Amber cleared her throat. “Um…not to make it better-or worse-whatever, but you still gotta get Raquel…”

 

Steve paled, then grew red.  He jumped to his feet, tripped over a box and fell into a pile of children’s books.  Amber chocked on laughter and quickly stepped inside. “You OK?”

 

“You didn’t see that!” Steve called, pushing the books away from him.  He came to feet again, glanced at the mess, looked a little green, then pushed past Amber and ran towards the entrance, determined to do his job.

 

Amber followed, stopping by the window, making sure that he wouldn’t faint again.  To her surprise, he walked straight across the parking lot, pulled open the door to the gun shop and said something to the occupants inside.

 

“Is he really doing what I think he’s doing?” It was Joyce and Frances, who had made their way to join Amber.  She noticed that Frances was standing closer than normal, his eyes more on Joyce than on Steve.

 

Amber shrugged. “He hasn’t fainted yet-oh, there he goes.”

 

Raquel and the mystery man arrived a few minutes later dragging an unconscious Steve with them.

 

“You lost something.” Raquel said as she pried the door open.

 

“Yeah, it happens.” Amber said with another shrug, and eyed the guy helping her. “Do we know you?”

 

He looked between Amber and Joyce and gave a small smile. “I’m Jason-I just started at the shop yesterday.  I guess the last guy went a little insane.”

 

“Yeah, he started mishandling the merchandise.” Joyce offered as they dumped Steve onto the floor.  He moaned, drooled a little, and remained unconscious.

 

There was an awkward pause as everyone stared at him and finally Amber asked, “Did he tell you that Nate wanted to talk to you?”

 

Raquel frowned. “Nope.  He kinda muttered something about the store, and then passed out.  I think it was because Jason was teaching me about the P-26.”

 

“P-2-26.  It’s a 9 millimeter, semi-automatic pistol made by-“

 

“Yeah, that’s great.” Raquel interrupted with a smile and Amber and Joyce exchanged glances just as the door opened and Collin ran in.

 

He stopped when he saw Steve. “Thought so.” He said, then turned and ran out. “Danae, it was too Steve!”

 

Jason looked confused.

 

“Ignore them.  They’re crazy.” Raquel said quickly. “So, I’m going to have my lunch hour in a few hours, maybe I can come back over and learn some more about the gun.”

 

Jason grinned. “Sure.  I’ve got a few others that might work for you.  The Berettas-“

 

“Raquel, you should call Nate before he calls again.” Joyce interrupted smoothly and Raquel gave her a small glare.

 

“Oh, yeah, so didn’t mean to interrupt your work.”

 

“What work?”

 

“It was nice meeting you.” Joyce said and Jason left the shop.  Now eyes turned to Raquel.

 

“What?”

 

“You like him!” To everyone’s surprise, it was Frances, who immediately turned red when he saw everyone looking at him.

 

Steve gurgled, sputtered, and shook his head as if to wake himself up.

 

“Guess it’s time for me to call Nate.” Raquel left the group and went in the back room.

 

“Come on, Steve. Wake up,” Joyce coaxed. “Want another glass of water?”

 

Steve’s eyes popped open and he sat straight up. “How did I get back here? Where’s Raquel?”

 

“Easy there, wonder boy.” Amber knelt down next to him. “She’s in the back room calling Nate. Everything is under control.”

 

“Then what’s he doing here?” Steve pointed at Francis.

 

Joyce and Francis exchanged glances.

 

“Is everything alright?” a lady asked. “I just want to buy this book. Is that ok?”

 

“Yeah. I got it,” Joyce said.

 

“I better go,” Francis said.

 

Amber helped Steve to his feet.

 

“I need to find Raquel,” he stated. He pushed the swinging door open just as Raquel hung up the phone. “What did he say?”

 

Raquel smiled. “He’s been really impressed with my work lately, and tonight when Shane comes in to show you how to close, he wants me to watch, too.”

 

Steve’s jaw quivered. “What?”

 

“He wants back-ups trained, emergency closers.”

 

“No!”

 

“Yes!”

 

Raquel jumped out of the chair as Steve plopped into it and picked up the phone. “Go, get out of here.”

 

“What’s he doing?” Amber asked Raquel when she came out of the back room.

 

“Calling a 1-900 number.”

 

“Really?”

 

Raquel shrugged. “I don’t know, but can you think of anywhere else he’d get laid, and he really needs to right now.”

 

“He has a girlfriend.”

 

“Have you ever seen her?”

 

“No.”

 

“Has she ever called?”

 

“No.”

 

“And he’s only mentioned her once?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Then his girlfriend is probably his right hand.”

 

Shane came in for his shift right then. “Joyce, you can go home,” he said as he passed the counter. “Hello Raquel and Amber. What’s with the party?”

 

“We were talking about what a great leader Steve is.” Raquel smiled. “He’s in the backroom right now talking to Nate about how great I am, and how excited he is that he gets to learn to close from the best.”

 

“Really?” Shane shook his head and straightened up. “I guess I better go back there and talk to him. Joyce, can you stay a bit longer until Steve and I are done?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Great.”

 

Shane was in the back room for 5 minutes before he pulled Raquel into the backroom with them. Joyce agreed to stay and wait until they were done.

 

20 minutes later, Raquel stepped out of the back room with a ghost white face.

 

“What happened?” Amber wanted to know. Joyce watched from her spot behind the registers.

 

“Ladies, today history has been made.”

 

“What?”

 

“I am the first person from ­Nate’s Books to ever be fired.”